_The Term "Organ-blower._"--In an old document preserved among the archives of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, is an entry relative to the celebrated composer and organist HENRY PURCELL, in which he is styled "our _organ-blower_." What is the meaning of this term? It certainly does not, in the present case, apply to the person whose office it was to fill the organ with wind. Purcell, at the time the entry was made, was in the zenith of his fame, and "organist to the king." Possibly it may be the old term for an organist, as it will be remembered that in the fifteenth century the organ was performed upon by _blows_ from the fist. At the coronation of James II., and also at that of George I., two of the king's musicians walked in the procession, clad in scarlet mantles, playing each on a sackbut, and another, drest in a similar manner, playing on a double curtal, or bassoon. The "organ-_blower_" had also a place in these two processions, having on him a short red coat, with a badge on his left breast, viz. a nightingale of silver, gilt, sitting on a sprig. In a weekly paper, entitled the _Westminster Journal_, Dec. 4. 1742, is a letter subscribed "Ralph Courtevil, _Organ-blower_, Essayist, and Historiographer." This person was the organist of St. James's Church, Piccadilly, and the author of the _Gazetteer_, a paper written in defence of Sir Robert Walpole's administration. By the writers on the opposite side he was stigmatized with the name of "Court-evil." At the present time, as I am given to understand, the organist of St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, is styled in the vestry-books, the "_organ-blower_." EDWARD F. RIMBAULT. "_Singular" and "Unique_."--The word _singular_, originally applied to that of which there is no other, gradually came to mean extraordinary only, and "rather singular," "very singular indeed," and such like phrases, ceased to shock the ear. To supply the vacancy occasioned by this corruption, the word _unique_ was introduced; which, I am horror-struck to see, is beginning to follow its predecessor. The Vauxhall bills lately declared Vauxhall to be the "most _unique_ place of amusement in the world." Can anything be done to check this ill-fated word in its career? and, if not, what must we look to for a successor? M. * * * * * QUERIES. EARLY POETRY, ETC., FIVE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL QUERIES RESPECTING. 1. Who was the author of-- "A Poeme on the King's most excellent maiesties happy progress into Scotland and much desired returne. May, 1685. Imprinted at London, MDCXXXIII." {375} It consists of ten leaves, exclusive of title-page, and is signed with the initials J.R. No copy has been traced in any public or private library.